This argument is being polarized way too much. Just because the all
whites squad is not made of 11 players who start on the likes of
man u, ac, barcelona, etc. does NOT mean the squad is doomed to
never have any international success. Some of you are talking like
the only teams that ever play in world cups are contenders, while
realistically only 1/3 actually are. For example- can you picture a
Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago, Togo, Saudi Arabia, Switerland,
Ecuador, or Serbia making a serious challenge for the world cup?
NO! But all those teams managed to qualify last time, despite the
fact that they have few international superstars and are mostly
made up of domestically based players with few credentials.
Can NZ make it to South Africa? Well, the quality of players
are better than in years past, and the road is possibly the easiest
it's ever been. I'd say they have a pretty decent shot of it.
50/50.
You can't possibly be serious. Comparing us to any of those
countires is laughable. You're also wrong - with the exception of
Saudi Arabia (who have, however, poured millions of $$$ into
football which we could only dream of), many of the players of the
teams you've mentioned play in very strong clubs accross Europe and
South America (by the way, have you ever heard of Nemanja Vidic?
Apparently playing for a Belgrade team called Manchester
United...And Dwight York played for the club with the same name in
Trinidad and Tobago...Emmanual Adebayor - currently in a Togoan
side called Arsenal). Even those who don't play for big-name clubs
play in strong leagues, and have plenty of top-class experience
that our lads are still some years away from getting. Whilst none
of those countries you mentioned have a realistic chance of wining
the World Cup, they are highly competetive at that level, and have
shown that over the years (probably with the exception of Togo, who
only emerged recently, but performed highly credibly).
I understand that being self-delusional is an essential part of
being a fan, but surely there are some limits?
Well hold on, you're pulling out their best players and naming
big clubs. Go and find the 11, 12, 13 18th player in those
squads and I guarantee you that they won't be anywhere
decent. Angola for example, their most famous player Akra
plays in the Gulf and the rest played in their local league.
That's not to say we will or will not qualify, or that we are
better teams than these sides. But we can compete if we get
the right side on the park and leverage off our best players as
these teams do.
However, we can't underestimate the Asian sides, and
especially the conditions in Asia. Aussie did it and look at
the mess they made of the Asian Cup.
Ok so I don't know about Angola. But lumping Serbia with some of
those other countries just shows ignorance. Have a look at the
clubs that members of the Serbian national team plays for
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbia_football. The likes of Dejan
Stankovic, Vidic, and potentially Zigic are all genuine world class
players who would probably make the XI's of just about any country
in the world.
Now lets have a look at Togo.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Togo_national_football_team there's a
good number of players in that list who are playing in clubs at the
highest level of european football. Not as impressive as Serbia,
but a damn sight better than the All Whites.
The Trinidad and Tobago model is perhaps the best example of what
the all whites can achieve. They had a Talisman (Dwight York, read
Ryan Nelsen), but the rest of there players were mostly from the
local leagues. The big advantage they have though is that they get
to play regular football against decent teams (Mexico, USA and
Costa Rica + a number of other sides who would be at least as
strong as the island nations).
I don't know about getting past the 5th asian side this time
around, they all look pretty strong, and in the long term I think
NZ needs to follow after AU and move into the Asian qualifying
process if we are to get regular matches of decent quality and
actually improve to the point that we deserve to be at another
WC.
